Edgar Alan Poe The Raven -Levi and I broke down each of the stanzas into modern day English. -Next is a basic summary
-Excerts
-Personal Reflection
-Visuals
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore –
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door –
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door –
Only this and nothing more." In the beginning of the story it is night, Edgar is very tired. He is reading about weird knowledge. As he becomes more tired he starts to dose off but then is woken by a tapping. Edgar thinks it is simply a visitor at his door. Well at least he tries to make himself believe it is only a late night visitor.
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore –
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore –
Nameless here for evermore. Next stanza is describing the setting of the story. It talks about how it was a bleak September. The fire is dying as the embers fade. Edgar is trying to take his mind off the thing he has lost. This includes his love of his life Lenore.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door –
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; –
This it is and nothing more." He is very sensible because of the late hour and the eerie setting. He is trying to calm himself and keeps telling his self it is nothing more then a visitor at his door.
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you" – here I opened wide the door; – –
Darkness there and nothing more. He can not wait any longer and must find out what is outside his door. He begins to talk to the supposed visitor. He says to them “Sir, said I, or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore.” But there is no answer. He then goes to the door opens it but it is nothing more than darkness.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" –
Merely this and nothing more. He stands and looks into the darkness. He just stands almost like he is obsessed. Then he calls out for Lenore.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore –
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; –
'Tis the wind and nothing more!" Edgar turns away and feels less comfortable then he had before, he feels worse. He tries to get a grip of himself and thinks of what it could be. He then believes the sound is coming from the window. He goes to the window to explore it; nothing is there so he blames the knocking on the wind.
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door –
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door – Perched, and sat, and nothing more. While at a window a raven flies in. The raven flies in and sits above the door. On a statue, the statue is of the Goddess of Wisdom.
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning – little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door –
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore." The speaker is more than a little surprised to hear this bird talk, but he doesn't really see how "Nevermore" answers his question. He underlines this by pointing out that no one before him has ever had a bird that talked. But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered – not a feather then he fluttered –
Till I scarcely more than muttered "Other friends have flown before –
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said "Nevermore." After that one word, the bird clams up and refuses to say anything else. Edgar has the feeling that the one word contains the bird's whole soul. The bird keeps quiet, and Poe, now maybe a little bit annoyed, slips back into his depressed mode. Now he sees the bird not as a welcome, amusing visitor, but just one more who have abandoned him. So, he keeps talking to himself, He is sure that the bird will disappear by tomorrow, leaving him as alone and hopeless as ever. Then the bird gives him his line again: "Nevermore." Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore –
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never – nevermore.'" This time he said the word it was creepier and again he looks for a plausible explanation. He tells himself that this bird only knows one word ("his only stock and store"). He even tells himself a little story about how the raven might have learned the word. He imagines that the bird had a really, really depressed former owner, whose life was such a mess that all he could say was "Nevermore." But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore –
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore." He's still fascinated by the bird. So he pulls up a chair, sits in front of the bird, and lets his imagination go to work. This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore! He sits and thinks, and sits and thinks, in silence. Poe gives us some details of the room here and they are rich and luxurious. The light and the cushion push him back to his old obsession. He remembers that Lenore will never sit on this cushion again, and that she's really gone forever.
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee – by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite – respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." Edgar imagines the air filling with perfume from an invisible censer. He tells himself that this imaginary perfume thickening the air was sent from God to help him forget Lenore. He compares this perfume to nepenthe, a mythological drink that was supposed to comfort grieving people. "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil! –
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted –
On this home by Horror haunted – tell me truly, I implore –
Is there – is there balm in Gilead? – tell me – tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." Now the Poe starts to get seriously worked up and starts full-out yelling at the bird, calling him a "Prophet" and a "thing of evil". Moving back and forth between assuming that this bird has come straight from Satan (the "Tempter") or that it has just been blown in at random by a storm. The next line describes the strangeness of the bird, which is all alone, but seems unshaken ("desolate yet all undaunted").He asks the bird "Is there balm in Gilead?" It's a Biblical reference, basically meaning, is there hope in my future. The bird shoots him down with "Nevermore” "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil – prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us – by that God we both adore –
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore –
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." He asks, in the name of God, if he will one day get to embrace his beloved Lenore again, in "the distant Aidenn" (Heaven). The bird responses with “Nevermore”.
"Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting –
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore." Finally, he completely loses it. That last "Nevermore" is the final straw, and he jumps up and tells the bird to get lost. He tells it not to leave any trace, not even a feather ("black plume"), and to take its lies elsewhere and leave him to his loneliness He tells the raven to get off the statue, to take his beak out of his heart, and, basically, to go to hell. To which the Raven says, "Nevermore." This bird is here to stay.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore! All of a sudden, it switches to the present tense. This isn't a story from the past, it's right now, and the raven is still there.
SUMMARY!
It's late at night, and it is December. Edgar is sitting in his room, half reading, half falling asleep, and trying to forget his lost love, Lenore. Suddenly, he hears something knocking at the door. He calls out, apologizing to the "visitor" he imagines must be outside. Then he opens the door and finds…nothing. This freaks him out a little, and he reassures himself that it is just the wind against the window. So he goes and opens the window, and a raven flies in. The Raven settles in on a statue above the door, and for some reason, Edgar talks to it. He asks for its name, Amazingly enough, the Raven answers back, with a single word: "Nevermore." Understandably surprised, Edgar asks more questions. The bird's vocabulary turns out to be pretty limited, though; all it says is "Nevermore." Edgar catches on to this rather slowly and asks more and more questions, which get more painful and personal. The Raven, though, doesn't change his story, and poor edgar starts to lose his sanity.
Excerts LOVE
"And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"
-The poem is about a man who only wants one thing in the world: to be back with the woman he loves. Sadly, that's the one thing he absolutely can't have. This excert shows how obsessed he was with her and how he imangines hearing her name.
MADNESS "'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door –
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; – -Right from the beginning of the poem you could see the madness in edgar. Maddness and insanity plays a huge role in this poem. I believe that love caused madness so these themes go hand and hand.
SUPERNATURAL Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."
The speaker thinks a lot about where this bird came from, whether it's some kind of demon, or maybe even a prophet. He also ponders deep issues, such as the afterlife and the existence of God.
Personal Reflection
I believe that The Raven is a poem of love and maddness. Edgar can not stop thinking about this girl and it is driving him crazy. Throughout the poem he hears her name and little things remind him of her. It is about a man who only wants one thing in the world: to be back with the woman he loves. Sadly, that's the one thing he absolutely can't have. This not being able to happen makes him go crazy! The ability not to have something i truly would want would make me feel the sameway too. For example when i was younger i wanted to have one of the new gaming consoles but my parents wouldnt let me. Even though this is small compared to what Edgar described going through i believe that basic outlines are the same. I know with my console situation i was very mad and almost obsessed with just getting my hands on one but with Poe it is not possible for him to every touch Lenore again. Overall it is very sad what Edgar went through no doubt he went CRAZY!
The Raven
- Levi and I broke down each of the stanzas into modern day English.
- Next is a basic summary
-Excerts
-Personal Reflection
-Visuals
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore –
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door –
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door –
Only this and nothing more."
In the beginning of the story it is night, Edgar is very tired. He is reading about weird knowledge. As he becomes more tired he starts to dose off but then is woken by a tapping. Edgar thinks it is simply a visitor at his door. Well at least he tries to make himself believe it is only a late night visitor.
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore –
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore –
Nameless here for evermore.
Next stanza is describing the setting of the story. It talks about how it was a bleak September. The fire is dying as the embers fade. Edgar is trying to take his mind off the thing he has lost. This includes his love of his life Lenore.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door –
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; –
This it is and nothing more."
He is very sensible because of the late hour and the eerie setting. He is trying to calm himself and keeps telling his self it is nothing more then a visitor at his door.
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you" – here I opened wide the door; – –
Darkness there and nothing more.
He can not wait any longer and must find out what is outside his door. He begins to talk to the supposed visitor. He says to them “Sir, said I, or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore.” But there is no answer. He then goes to the door opens it but it is nothing more than darkness.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" –
Merely this and nothing more.
He stands and looks into the darkness. He just stands almost like he is obsessed. Then he calls out for Lenore.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore –
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; –
'Tis the wind and nothing more!"
Edgar turns away and feels less comfortable then he had before, he feels worse. He tries to get a grip of himself and thinks of what it could be. He then believes the sound is coming from the window. He goes to the window to explore it; nothing is there so he blames the knocking on the wind.
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door –
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door – Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
While at a window a raven flies in. The raven flies in and sits above the door. On a statue, the statue is of the Goddess of Wisdom.
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning – little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door –
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."
The speaker is more than a little surprised to hear this bird talk, but he doesn't really see how "Nevermore" answers his question. He underlines this by pointing out that no one before him has ever had a bird that talked.
But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered – not a feather then he fluttered –
Till I scarcely more than muttered "Other friends have flown before –
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said "Nevermore."
After that one word, the bird clams up and refuses to say anything else. Edgar has the feeling that the one word contains the bird's whole soul. The bird keeps quiet, and Poe, now maybe a little bit annoyed, slips back into his depressed mode. Now he sees the bird not as a welcome, amusing visitor, but just one more who have abandoned him. So, he keeps talking to himself, He is sure that the bird will disappear by tomorrow, leaving him as alone and hopeless as ever. Then the bird gives him his line again: "Nevermore."
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore –
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never – nevermore.'"
This time he said the word it was creepier and again he looks for a plausible explanation. He tells himself that this bird only knows one word ("his only stock and store"). He even tells himself a little story about how the raven might have learned the word. He imagines that the bird had a really, really depressed former owner, whose life was such a mess that all he could say was "Nevermore."
But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore –
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
He's still fascinated by the bird. So he pulls up a chair, sits in front of the bird, and lets his imagination go to work.
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
He sits and thinks, and sits and thinks, in silence. Poe gives us some details of the room here and they are rich and luxurious. The light and the cushion push him back to his old obsession. He remembers that Lenore will never sit on this cushion again, and that she's really gone forever.
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee – by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite – respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."
Edgar imagines the air filling with perfume from an invisible censer. He tells himself that this imaginary perfume thickening the air was sent from God to help him forget Lenore. He compares this perfume to nepenthe, a mythological drink that was supposed to comfort grieving people.
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil! –
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted –
On this home by Horror haunted – tell me truly, I implore –
Is there – is there balm in Gilead? – tell me – tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."
Now the Poe starts to get seriously worked up and starts full-out yelling at the bird, calling him a "Prophet" and a "thing of evil". Moving back and forth between assuming that this bird has come straight from Satan (the "Tempter") or that it has just been blown in at random by a storm. The next line describes the strangeness of the bird, which is all alone, but seems unshaken ("desolate yet all undaunted"). He asks the bird "Is there balm in Gilead?" It's a Biblical reference, basically meaning, is there hope in my future. The bird shoots him down with "Nevermore”
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil – prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us – by that God we both adore –
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore –
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."
He asks, in the name of God, if he will one day get to embrace his beloved Lenore again, in "the distant Aidenn" (Heaven). The bird responses with “Nevermore”.
"Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting –
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."
Finally, he completely loses it. That last "Nevermore" is the final straw, and he jumps up and tells the bird to get lost. He tells it not to leave any trace, not even a feather ("black plume"), and to take its lies elsewhere and leave him to his loneliness He tells the raven to get off the statue, to take his beak out of his heart, and, basically, to go to hell. To which the Raven says, "Nevermore." This bird is here to stay.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore!
All of a sudden, it switches to the present tense. This isn't a story from the past, it's right now, and the raven is still there.
SUMMARY!
It's late at night, and it is December. Edgar is sitting in his room, half reading, half falling asleep, and trying to forget his lost love, Lenore. Suddenly, he hears something knocking at the door. He calls out, apologizing to the "visitor" he imagines must be outside. Then he opens the door and finds…nothing. This freaks him out a little, and he reassures himself that it is just the wind against the window. So he goes and opens the window, and a raven flies in. The Raven settles in on a statue above the door, and for some reason, Edgar talks to it. He asks for its name, Amazingly enough, the Raven answers back, with a single word: "Nevermore." Understandably surprised, Edgar asks more questions. The bird's vocabulary turns out to be pretty limited, though; all it says is "Nevermore." Edgar catches on to this rather slowly and asks more and more questions, which get more painful and personal. The Raven, though, doesn't change his story, and poor edgar starts to lose his sanity.
Excerts
LOVE
"And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"
-The poem is about a man who only wants one thing in the world: to be back with the woman he loves. Sadly, that's the one thing he absolutely can't have. This excert shows how obsessed he was with her and how he imangines hearing her name.
MADNESS
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door –
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; –
-Right from the beginning of the poem you could see the madness in edgar. Maddness and insanity plays a huge role in this poem. I believe that love caused madness so these themes go hand and hand.
SUPERNATURAL
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."
The speaker thinks a lot about where this bird came from, whether it's some kind of demon, or maybe even a prophet. He also ponders deep issues, such as the afterlife and the existence of God.
Personal Reflection
I believe that The Raven is a poem of love and maddness. Edgar can not stop thinking about this girl and it is driving him crazy. Throughout the poem he hears her name and little things remind him of her. It is about a man who only wants one thing in the world: to be back with the woman he loves. Sadly, that's the one thing he absolutely can't have. This not being able to happen makes him go crazy! The ability not to have something i truly would want would make me feel the sameway too. For example when i was younger i wanted to have one of the new gaming consoles but my parents wouldnt let me. Even though this is small compared to what Edgar described going through i believe that basic outlines are the same. I know with my console situation i was very mad and almost obsessed with just getting my hands on one but with Poe it is not possible for him to every touch Lenore again. Overall it is very sad what Edgar went through no doubt he went CRAZY!
VISUALS